The Swiss Courier Book

It is August 1944 and the Gestapo is mercilessly rounding up suspected enemies of the Third Reich. When Joseph Engel, a German physicist working on the atomic bomb, finds that he is actually a Jew, adopted by Christian parents, he must flee for his life to neutral Switzerland.

Gabi Mueller is a young Swiss-American woman working for the newly formed American Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner to the CIA) close to Nazi Germany. When she is asked to risk her life to safely "courier" Engel out of Germany, the fate of the world rests in her hands. If she can lead him to safety, she can keep the Germans from developing nuclear capabilities. But in a time of traitors and uncertainty, whom can she trust along the way?

This fast-paced, suspenseful novel takes readers along treacherous twists and turns during a fascinating--and deadly--time in history.

Publishers Weekly

Bestselling authors Goyer (Night Song) and Yorkey (Every Man's Battle series) collaborate for the first time in this WWII novel that centers around real historical events. Goyer and Yorkey open their text with a brief primer on the unsuccessful 1944 attempt on Adolf Hitler's life (dramatized in the movie Valkyrie). This story takes off immediately following that event; Hitler, bent on revenge, goes after anyone remotely capable of injuring him and sets up countless spies in key positions to take out persons with even the slightest Jewish heritage. Gabi Mueller, a Swiss-American woman who works for the American Office of Strategic Services, finds herself enlisted in safecracking, a job for which she is highly skilled. As Gabi seeks to make a difference in the face of evil, she is asked to help rescue a German physicist who is working on the atomic bomb. While her loyalties are not in question, Gabi struggles over whom to trust as the stakes become life and death. Goyer and Yorkey do a fine job presenting realistic characters and wartime scenarios; some readers, however, might find the sheer number of plot locations difficult to follow. (Oct.)